The application of FT-IR spectroscopy in discrimination of differently originated and aged whisky

Abstract

The rapid, simple, and non-destructive analytical procedure for discrimination and authentication of whiskies originating from Scotland, Ireland and USA due to their origin as well as time of maturation (two, three, six and twelve years) is presented. Combination of data from infrared spectroscopy with statistical analysis was used to construct eight discriminant models. Models obtained allowed to distinguish Scottish, Irish, and American whiskies and 2 and 3 years old beverages from 6 and 12 years old whiskies. Results show that 100% of samples were correctly classified in models discriminating American and Scottish whiskies or 2-year-old and 6-year-old American whiskies. American whiskies were classified correctly in all models which may suggest its considerable chemical difference compared to whisky produced in Scotland or Ireland. Constructed in current paper discriminant models can be used to identify unknown samples of whisky in terms of origin or age.

A Brief History of Whiskey Adulteration and the Role of Spectroscopy Combined with Chemometrics in the Detection of Modern Whiskey Fraud

“…Sujka and Koczon [73] have reported the development of a rapid, simple, and non-destructive analytical procedure for the discrimination and authentication of whisky samples originating from Scotland, Ireland and USA using MIR spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis models. The procedure was also found to be useful for identifying the whiskies time of maturation (two, three, six and twelve years).…”

Profiling Selected Volatiles in Whiskey by Fizzy Extraction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: Correlation with Perceived Quality and Age

“…Spectroscopic techniques such as Raman, UV–Vis, and IR spectroscopy have previously been used to analyze whiskey. − Although these techniques provide a rapid and non-destructive analysis, they are generally unable to identify and quantify the exact components within a mixture. The most common analytical method to analyze mixtures of esters is gas chromatography (GC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS).…”

Influence of regionality and maturation time on the chemical fingerprint of whisky

“…Gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (GC-Q-ToF) was employed to distinguish malt whiskies according to the type of cask in which they were matured (bourbon versus bourbon and wine) (Stupak et al, 2018). Infrared spectroscopy with statistical analysis allowed to distinguish Scottish, Irish, and American whiskies and 2 and 3 years old beverages from 6 and 12 years old whiskies (Sujka & Koczoń, 2018). Recently, two different, hypothesis-free, sensor arrays based upon three fluorophores successfully discriminated whisky samples with respect to origin (American, Irish and Scotch Whisky) and taste (rich vs. light) (Han et al, 2017).…”